San Jose’s mayor-elect still checks the headline of the newspaper he saved proclaiming his victory last month: “CHUCK REED SAILS TO EASY WIN.”

“So I can make sure it wasn’t just a dream,” Reed explained recently as he walked to lunch with the San Jose Downtown Association’s executive director.

Reed was the front-runner in the Nov. 7 runoff, but being elected mayor of America’s 10th largest city still is quite an adjustment for the two-term councilman who represented San Jose’s northern district.

Demands on Reed’s time have grown tenfold now that he’ll be representing an New cell phone policy

Reed surrendered his personal cell phone, whose number he used to give out freely, to incoming chief of staff Pete Furman, who now coordinates access to the mayor-elect. Voicemail now answers calls to Reed’s home phone, still listed in the white pages. And his new personal cell phone number is closely kept. It clearly pains him.

“My preference is to just pick up the phone and answer questions, but I’m told I can’t do it that way, that it’s too disruptive to the things I’m trying to do,” Reed said recently in the 18th floor office he soon will vacate for the mayoral quarters down the hall. He officially takes over as mayor Jan. 1.

Reed is a guy who writes his phone messages on 3-by-5-inch index cards and tries to make time to return them all by the end of the day. “I’m now getting calls from people all over the city – and there are lots of them,” he said. He’s hoping to set up a regular time when he’ll be accessible to people.

But Reed clearly doesn’t see much free time in his future. Now that he’ll be mayor, he’s shutting down his law practice and selling the family ski boat to make room for his law files in the garage. Since his two kids are grown and living out of state, there’s not much use for the boat.

Reed also acknowledges he won’t have time any more to read through the whole stack of reports and memorandums on Saturday mornings in preparation for the Tuesday council meetings.

“I pretty much read everything as a council member, but I can’t do that as mayor,” Reed said. “I’ll need to use my staff much more than I did before.”

`Reed Reforms’

Reed has set an ambitious agenda for the council’s first meetings in 2007, where he will move to implement the 34 “Reed Reforms” that were the cornerstone of his campaign. He’ll honor reforms 2 and 3, a revised oath of office, by promising “no lying, no cheating, no stealing” and vowing to “put service above self” when he is sworn in.

The reforms stem from Reed’s criticism of outgoing Mayor Ron Gonzales, whom he considered a secretive back-room dealer. Gonzales goes on trial next year on felony corruption charges involving an alleged secret deal to add $11.25 million to a trash hauling contract.

Though Reed can claim a voter mandate with his 19-point victory margin, to move his agenda he must win over a council with five members – Forrest Williams, Nora Campos, Madison Nguyen, Judy Chirco and Nancy Pyle – who backed his opponent, outgoing Vice Mayor Cindy Chavez.

That’ll be particularly challenging early in the year when two council seats – Reed’s and former Councilman Ken Yeager’s – remain open. Six votes are needed to approve council action, and the election for the open seats isn’t until March 6.

Reed has included incoming council members Pete Constant and Sam Liccardo on his transition team. Looking to solidify a supportive voting bloc on the new council, he has endorsed businesswoman Hon T. Lien in the seven-way race to replace him.

As for wooing the current council members, Reed said: “It’s going to be fine. I’ve worked with these guys for a long time, and we’ve got a lot of common interests.”

But, he added, “I have to train myself to think differently as mayor,” taking the initiative to build support around his agenda.

Willing to listen

To that end, Reed – whom critics painted as a scold rather than a consensus builder – has tried since the election to demonstrate more leadership. When the council last month debated procedures for voting an elected colleague out of office for misconduct, Reed won over a skeptical Williams by listening to his suggestions and including them in the final proposal.

“I’ve got my indications from him of his willingness to work together, to listen and to discuss,” Williams said.

Reed says he doesn’t intend to assert mayoral power in the manner of his predecessor. He’ll welcome the council’s help in picking a new city manager next year rather than forwarding his choice for their approval. And he wants an assertive and independent city manager rather than a deferential caretaker.

Reed still seems uncomfortable with some aspects of mayoral power. Accustomed to getting around town in a two-door Ford Explorer with an American flag bumper sticker, he was cool to the idea of using a city car with a police escort. But Police Chief Rob Davis convinced him it’s prudent.

Officers have escorted San Jose mayors locally for official business since San Francisco Mayor George Moscone’s 1978 assassination. But Gonzales drew some heat for taking police escorts on out-of-town political trips. Reed said he and Davis will discuss his security needs case by case.

“I’m not planning on having them accompany me to the grocery store,” Reed said. “I’m hoping they’ll allow me to do some things on my own.”

John Woolfolk is a reporter for the Bay Area News Group, based at The Mercury News. A native of New Orleans, he grew up near San Jose. He is a graduate of the UC Berkeley School of Journalism and has been a journalist since 1990, covering cities, counties, law enforcement, courts and other general news. He also has worked as an editor since 2013.